5 tips for carefree summer holidays

The summer holidays are on their way. If you're a student that means at least six weeks with barely anything to do except stress about the things you should be doing in order to get ahead at university or the jobs market, or organising for the year ahead.

1) Don't take your things home

Students have a tendency to accummulate a lot of crap over their time at university. It's normally either so much you can't take it on the train, or occassionally so embarassing you can't ask your parents to take it home in their car.

Fortunately if you do own embarassing or just plain heavy things you can't bring yourself to take home, you no longer have to. Lovespace will store away anything you don't want to lug all the way home. They'll even store your embarassing, ahem, "miscellaneous items" and at extremely reasonable prices (from £1.95 per box per month, no matter what you're storing).

It avoids the hassle of taking your stuff home (and the cost of hiring a van), and keeps your stuff safe until you need it again when uni starts up. And no more quietly asking your parents to pass the box marked "miscellaneous sex stuff" because your back isn't strong enough to carry it.

They collect your stuff (for free) and store it in a secure, climate-controlled warehouse, which we like to picture as the place the Lost Arc ended up in the first Indiana Jones film.

It takes a lot of hassle out of moving in and out of uni accommodation and keeps your stuff safe, giving you more time to worry about other things over your holidays.

2) Earn whilst you travel

There are a lot of places to find summer jobs, so why work in the UK? Working holidays get you out of the country and away from the terrible weather to places that can actually claim to have a “summer”.

There are a wide variety of places that offer these schemes, and aren’t just limited to teaching kids to swim in America. If you book soon could find yourself doing conservation work in the Seychelles or interning as a wedding planer in Australia.

InterRailing is a great way to test out your language skills, and isn’t as expensive as you’d imagine. You can get a month European rail pass for the same price it would cost to get from London to Glasgow and back. Granted Europe doesn’t have the promise of deep fried Mars bars, but you’ll have a great time.

If you’re worried about expense, there are seasonal jobs you can get whilst you’re out there. You won’t need a work visa if you’re a UK resident.

3) Stop worrying about "life after uni"

If you're approaching your final year, the fear is probably starting to kick in. A good holiday can easily be ruined by worrying about what you're going to do after uni ends. One way to avoid this is to take a week or two making sure you're much more employable next year, ahead of time.

Internships have the reputation of being a form of slavery where you actually pay for the travel costs. You work incredibly hard for no pay, just for the chance to put a line in your CV about how you brought coffees to low-level employees at a law firm for a month.

But if you look in the right places there are some great internships out there. Unpaid internships, in almost all circumstances, are now illegal. As an intern you have a right to the minimum wage, so be sure not to take anything where you won’t be paid or anywhere that pays “expenses only” – they are doing so illegally.

Sites such as Student Job and Mediargh often list the best internships out there, and check that they’ll be paid internships for you.

4) Stop stressing about money you're wasting on holidays

Let’s face it you’re never going to get holidays this long ever again, so it’s time to live it up whilst you can. Take an affordable group holiday or just kick back and enjoy the sunshine. Jobs are looming, enjoy your summers whilst it's still a physical possibility.

Saving money on your holidays doesn’t mean you have to stay at home. There are loads of ways to get cheaper flights and hotels, and there aren’t many summers you’ll get as long as this one. Take advantage of loopholes that will cut your ticket prices in half and enjoy yourself.

Money spent on doing things you actually enjoy is rarely money wasted, unless you happen to be a massochist.

5) Don't panic about next year's exams and deadlines just yet

There's no point in panicking about exams, and how little work you'll have done by the time they come around, a whole year in advance.

Planning ahead doesn't mean freaking out about how much work you haven't done, before you've had a chance to not do it.

Summer holidays should be enjoyable, but if you want them to be free from worry then get a little bit ahead in your studies. Not enough to make the word "holiday" a joke, but enough to quell the massive rising panic as it creeps up on you from behind.

Do light reading, or actually start your dissertation. You'll save yourself a lot of trouble in the long run, and a hell of a lot of fretting over the summer.

The Boring Bit

SMS wants to help you live the life you want on the budget you're stuck with but we aren't the Economic Bible, so please don't take our word as gospel as we can't accept any liability if our tips aren't right for you – everyone's different, after all.

We read our links before posting them but we aren't responsible for their content.

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